The last time I saw former mayor Art Phillips, he had assumed a familiar position in Vancouver city council chambers.
It was July, 2010, and he’d just been awarded the Freedom of the City by Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Vision Vancouver council. After the speeches and the obligatory photographs, Robertson invited Phillips to sit in the mayor’s chair.
Phillips smiled as he slipped into the chair, and dropped into his old habit of leaning back a bit. It was as if he’d never left the chambers, or would ever leave the city.
On Friday, he did indeed leave the city, passing away from the complications of Alheimers Disease.
As has been a long practice in newspapers, The Vancouver Sun had banked a pre-written obituary on Phillips that could be used whenever the news of his death arrived. It is one of the morbid tasks that journalists have, writing in advance something that can capture an important person’s life before they’ve even died. This one was written by my former colleague Doug Ward, who took early retirement last year and who was skilled in the art of gentle obituaries for the yet-dead.

Art Phillips and his wief Carole Taylor

Phillips was mayor from 1973 to 1976, and was first elected as an aderman in 1968, a position he held until he became mayor. He was a founding member of TEAM, The Electors Action Movement, which sought to bring common-sense government to a city wracked at the time by poor decision-making. Over the course of his terms, he would do more than that: he would set the stage for Vancouver as we know it, a liveable city without freeways, but crafted with sensible urban planning and paying attention to the growing needs of neighbourhoods.
One of his first acts was to kill plans to bring freeways into the heart of the city. The Dunsmuir and Georgia Viaducts are the last remaining vestiges of that ill-conceived plan.
As soon as I learned of Phillips’ death I emailed Gordon Campbell, the former premier and mayor, who is now Canada’s High Commissioner in London.
Campbell was a very close associate and friend of Phillips and his wife Carole Taylor. As a wet-behind-the-ears graduate Campbell went to work for Phillips as his mayoral assistant. Phillips rewarded his loyalty by becoming his mentor. Campbell, when he went on to run for mayor under a revitalized Non-Partisan Association, left a spot on council for Taylor to run as an independent. He later tapped her to be his finance minister in his Liberal provincial government. Taylor is now chancellor of Simon Fraser University.
This morning I received a long tribute back from Campbell in which he called Phillips “the greatest mayor Vancouver ever had.”

He changed the face of the city but more importantly he changed how we feel about it. The improvements in quality of life, living downtown, waterfront walks, and protecting neighbourhoods are all the results of Art Phillips’ leadership. His respect for people, his kindness and his ability to find agreement were all reflected in an exemplary public life.

“Most important to Art though was his family – Carole and the children and grandchildren were always first for him. They shared him with us. And Art could not have been a better friend. From the first day I met him when he was an Alderman just elected on a recount until the last day I saw him, he was encouraging and positive. Art could always see a way forward. “One of my fondest memories of him is seeing him sit and look out his window at the city he helped create and knowing he was thinking about how to make it better for all of us. “Art Phillips was a wonderful man. As a Thunderbird basketball player, as a business man, as a Mayor and public servant, as an MP, a Critical Industries Commissioner, a father and a husband, he was the best. We will all miss his example, his list, his “puckish sense of humour” and just knowing he is there. Carole and all the children are in our prayers, their loss and their memories are far greater than ours.”

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